Tip of the iceberg
by cooper klebba
Summary: Connie gets kidnapped by a woman who definitely has a few screws loose, and will only give her back in exchange for an old gem artifact. Will this criminal keep her promise? And where is this artifact specifically located?
1. At least she's honest

It was raining in Beach city. Not so much that people couldn't walk in it, but enough to keep most people inside their homes. Steven was alone playing a video game while sitting on the floor when he heard a knocking at the door. Steven paused the game and went downstairs to answer. He opened the door to find Connies parents, Mr and Mrs Maheswaran, in rain coats. They looked tired and troubled by something "Hello Steven, can we speak with the gems." Mrs Maheswaran said, slight worry in her voice.

"Sorry, they're on a mission right now." Steven said. "Why do you want to talk to them? Is something wrong?"

The two parents looked at each other, unsure if they should tell Steven the truth. Mr Maheswaran then sighed and said "Connies been missing for two weeks. The police have been looking for her but we thought your friends could help."

"Two weeks?" Steven said slightly shocked "How did she go missing?"

"We're not sure. But the police think she was kidnapped."

"Mabye I can help. The gems might not be back for awhile."

"No." Mrs Maheswaran said sternly "I appreciate that you want to help, but this is an adult matter Steven."

Steven looked at them with begging eyes "Come on guys, let me help you find Connie. She's my friend and I want to make sure she's safe."

Connies parents once again looked at each other with uncertainty. Eventually Mr Maheswaran said "Well, we were going to ask around the bad side of beach city to see if anyone knows any kidnappers. I guess there's no harm with you helping with that."

With that Steven grabbed his rain coat and left with the Maheswarans to "the bad side of town". Now beach city wasn't a place with a number of mob bosses or bank robbers. The biggest criminal in beach city used to be an arsonist named William Buchanan and that was from the 1860's. No one's really sure why the city had such a low crime rate. Though most people speculate that its because criminals don't want to get their hands full with the crystal gems, even though the gems don't get involved with human crimes and such. So the bad side of beach city mostly consisted of gas-station robbers, graffiti artists and hobos. Steven and Connies parents asked around to see if anyone knew someone who would be the kidnapping type. Most of the people they asked pointed fingers to a woman named Nadeli Tinkas, and said that she's usually seen at a place called "the good old days diner".The words that most people used to described Nadeli were mixed. They all ranged from "obnoxious and careless" to "sadistic and loathsome". The one word that most people used to describe het was "honest".

They found the small establishment when the rain started to ease. The diner was somewhat of a decent establishment, though very few people were inside. Steven asked a waitress if Nadeli was here. The waitress pointed towards a booth that had a woman in her early fourty's sitting in it, enjoying a plate of steak and a class of apple cider. She had pale skin and short, light brown, messy hair. She was about as tall as Pearl and had a curved body. She wore a green leather jacket, brown cargo pants, and had brown sandals on her feet. She didn't look like someone who'd kidnap children, but then again maybe that was the point.

"We need to handle this the right way." Mr Maheswaran wispered "She's obviously going to deny what she did and pretend not to know anything, so we need to keep pressing the questions on her until she slips up." With that in mind, they walked over towards Nadeli's booth. "Excuse me, are you Nadeli Tinkas?" Mrs Maheswaran asked.

Nadeli stopped eating, looked towards the three, and placed her cutting knife and fork to her side. "That's what my mom and dad named me. Why, you three want to talk?" Nadeli said with an Australian accent.

"We want to ask if you've seen a girl that went missing two weeks ago." Mr Maheswaran said "we think that she-"

"Hold on a sec there mate. Now I'm not one to interrupt someone while they're talking, manners and all that. But this girl we're talking about. Does she got glasses, a pretty blue dress, kinda skinny, enjoys a good book every now and again?" Nadeli asked.

The three were caught off guard by the sudden question, and weren't sure how to answer it. Steven, starting to think that Nadeli wasn't the woman behind Connies disappearance, responded with "Yeah, that's her. Do you know her?"

Nadeli smiled and said "Of course I know her. I'm the one who bloody kidnapped her! Now let's get down to brass tax, what do you want with her?"

Steven and Connies parents were frozen with shock. Why on earth would someone just so casualty admit to committing a crime? Still in shock, Mrs Maheswaran asked "You... Kidnapped... Connie?".

"You neglect to clean your ears every night love? Yes! I. Kidnapped. Connie. Maheswaran. Got her locked up in my basment. It was pretty easy too. Now I hate to sound like a broken record, but what do you want with her?"

"We're her parents" Mr Maheswaran said coldly, his shock quickly turning into anger.

Nadeli's smile went away for a second, but quickly returned as she said "I see, Nice to meet you. You have a wonderful daughter. So sweet and gentle. Blessed are the meek, am I right?"

"If you think you're getting away with this, you've got another thing coming."

"Listen, the situation here isn't as bad as you think. Connie's in a safe place. She's got a soft bed, warm food, good books, I've even gave her a bloody TV to watch!" She paused for a minute, seeing that Connies parents weren't convinced, and continued. "Now you're just saying that to make us feel better. Fair point Mr Maheswaran, fair point. But the thing is, I live by a strict rule. Honesty is the best policy. Go ahead, ask me anything and I'll tell the truth."

"Alright then." Mr Maheswaran said. "Did you, at any point during the last two weeks, hurt Connie?"

Nadeli's smile once again disappeared, and didn't return. "Okay mate, here's the truth. Connie tried to escape my lovely home three days ago, and I had to give her a proper punishment. Nothing serious keep in mind! Just a few cuts here and some bruises there. Just enough to make sure she learned her lesson."

"Is this some kind of joke to you?" Mrs Maheswaran said, growing disgusted by how carless Nadeli was.

"Look my dear, us criminals aren't all psychopaths and savages here. Crime is a business. So let's just come to an agreement. How much are you willing to pay for her?"

"Excuse me, Nadeli." Steven started. "You really shouldn't get money for what you did, its wrong."

"And tell me why I should listen to you kid?"

"You should listen to me because I'm a crystal gem." Steven then lifted his shirt up to prove it. "I know gems don't usually don't get involved with this type of stuff, but if you don't give back Connie, I'll make sure my friends do something about it!"

Nadeli had a surprised look on her face, but that look was replaced with a big smug grin as she asked "Whats your name kid?"

"Steven Quartz Universe."

"Well Steve, I can say with absolute certainty that my day just got better. Now we can make a proper bargain. I have something that these two want, and you and your gem friends have something that I want."

"Alright I guess. What do you want?"

Nadeli pulled out an old folded up piece of paper from one of her pockets. She unfolded the paper on the table to reveal a detailed drawing of a karambit knife. "Here's what I want. You get me this beauty, and I'll give you Connie back free of charge."

"You want to trade my daughter for this stupid knife?" Mr Maheswaran asked while picking up the paper to get a better look at it.

Nadeli suddenly looked offended. "Stupid knife? That's not a stupid knife." She then took the paper out of Mr Maheswarans hands. "That's not a stupid knife! This is art. This knife is worth more than all those crystal fems combined! Don't you know anything about this thing?"

There was a silence that followed, which was broken when Nadeli groaned with disappointment.

"Figured as much. Here's a little history lesson; so there was this crystal gem named Topaz. Now Topaz wasn't a skilled fighter, not in the slightest. So she creates this knife that can freeze a monster in seconds if you stab it. That way she could take down big scary creatures easy. One day she disappeared off the face of the planet." Nadeli pauses again. "What happened to the knife? Very good question Steve. No one really knows what happened to it, But my guess is that the three gems in that temple under the lighthouse have it under lock and key."

"How do you know all of that?" Mrs Maheswaran asked.

"Used to be a history teacher."

A waitress then placed a bill on the table and left. Nadeli got some money out of her pocket, placed the right amount on the table, and stood up from the booth. "You can give me the knife tomorrow at the docks at one PM, then I'll take you to her. Now if you excuse me, Connie needs me." She started to leave before saying "One more thing. I've got a few corrupted friends in the police department. So if I hear that you called the cops on me, I'll make sure the next time you see Connie will be in a body bag." And after her warning, she walked out of the diner.

Mr Maheswaran placed his hands on Stevens shoulders and said "Listen Steven. My wife and I haft to go to work tomorrow. Do you promise us you'll be able to get our daughter back?"

Steven looked up at him with a smile of pure determination and said "I promise on my mom's gemstone that I will!"


	2. Every knife has a sheath

Connies parents dropped Steven off near his home after their encounter with Nadeli. Steven walked into his home to see that Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl returned from their mission. "Hey Steven, how's it going?" Amethyst said.

Steven ran towards them and said "Guys, I need your help with something. It's an emergency!"

"What's wrong Steven?" Pearl asked with worry, hearing the urgency in Stevens voice.

"Someone kidnapped Connie and wants to trade a magic gem thing for her!"

"What?! What would a human want with a magical device?"

"I think a more appropriate question is who's the creep that took Connie, Pearl." Amethyst said.

"Her name is Nadeli Tinkas. She said to meet her at the docks with what she wants at one PM."

"What does she exactly want?" Garnet asked.

"She wants some knife that belonged to a gem named Topaz."

The gems eyes grew wide at the mention of Topaz and her knife. The three looked at eachother, unsure of what to say. Eventually Garnet said "Steven... We dont have the knife."

Steven just stared at them with shock, a thousand thoughts running threw his mind. _We don't have the knife? How's Nadeli going to react? What'll she do to Connie?! _His eyes started to water and a knot formed in his throat. "You... Don't... Have it?"

"Steven, don't be upset." Pearl said, trying to stop him from crying. "I'm sure we'll be able to work out another deal with this criminal. Maybe we could-"

"Hold on!"Amethyst yelled. "I just remembered about those magnetic sheath things Topaz made!"

"Of course!" Pearl exclaimed. "How could we forget about those!?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Steven asked.

"You see Steven, Topaz was very forgetful and paranoid. There wasn't a single day where she didn't loose something. She thought that her knife was too Important to loose. So she made a special sheath that would attract the knife torwards who ever had it. But she was worried that she might loose the sheath, so she made several. We just need one of those sheaths, should be easy enough. She had several little houses she would rest at."

"We still need to be near the knifes location for a sheath to work." Garnet said.

"Yes, but you can still be quite far away from the knife for a sheath to work, and Topaz usually hung around mountains and snowy terrain. It might take a few days or weeks, but we'll definitely find that knife."

"Awsome!" Steven cheered. "We'll tell Nadeli that tomorrow!"

"I think you should let us handle this one bud." Amethyst said. "Things might get pretty grown up from here. You've done your part."

"Aw come on guys! I promised Connies parents that I would help save her."

"What do you think Garnet?"Amethyst asked, turning towards Garnet for an answer.

Garnet was still and silent for a minute, thinking over the question. She eventually answered with "Steven started this little arrangement, I think it's fair that he helps finish it"

The next day, the four went to the docks at one PM. Unlike the day before today it was sunny, though the ground was still moist and riddled with puddles from the rain yesterday. While they didn't see Nadeli at first, they spotted her at the edge of one of the docks, looking out to sea.

"Little heads up guys." Steven started "Nadeli is a little... Weird. Hey Nadeli!

The woman turned around and smiled as she saw who it was. "Steve my boy, you made it. And you brought your gem friends! It's an honor to do business with you lovely girls."

"So, you kidnapped Connie?" Pearl asked rather bluntly.

"Yep. Connie couldn't have been kidnapped by better love. So, shall we get to the point of this little meeting?"

"Yeah, about that." Steven said slightly nervous. "I've got good news and bad ne-"

"Its alright mate, I know you four don't have the knife."

"You... You do?"

"Yeah. After you and I came to our agreement yesterday, I descided to do a little more research on Topaz for fun. Turns out she was close friends with this rich guy named Johnson White. Now do you remember what I said about how the knife was made for freezing monsters easy Steve?" She pauses for a few seconds. "Yes miss Tinkas, of course I do. I want you to respond to me like that, alright Steve. Now Mr White was this famous gem artifact collecter. On top of that, he was worried that the monsters attacking beach city, which was called Shoretown back in the day, would be the cause of his untimely demise. So for his birthday, Topaz gave him a special gift. Well, go ahead. Ask me what the gift was, ask."

"No." Garnet said, slightly annoyed with how Nadeli acted.

Nadeli's face looked a bit irritated. "I ought a slap you hard across the face for that Garnet, really I should. But I won't, I'll slap Connie instead. So yeah, Topaz gave old John the knife. His great grandson, who now owns all of Johnsons possessions, lives in a mansion in beach city. Looks like your bad news isn't so bad now. But you know, I'm curious. What was the good news?"

The gems then explained about the magnetic sheaths, with Nadeli smiling and nodding while hearing them talk. "This is perfect! This way if this great grandson doesn't have the knife, we'll just use a sheath to have it come to us."

"Why do you want the knife anyway?" Pearl asked.

"Do you know how many treasure hunters and such looked high and low for that little beauty? People are willing to pay millions for that knife, and I plan on selling that knife for as high a price as possible!"

"I'm probably going to regret asking this, but what'll happen to Connie if we don't give you this knife?" Amethyst said

"Well, I don't want to go too deep into the details. So let's just say I know some men who are willing to pay top dollar for Connie who... Like their women young."

While Steven wasn't sure what she meant by this, the older gems easily figured out what morbid things she was implying. The three simply nodded In resonse.

"So here's how it's gonna work. You three go find one of those sheaths, and Steven and I will go see if the current Mr White has my knife."

"Hold on just a second!" Pearl said. "We aren't leaving Steven alone with a sick lunatic like you!"

"Relax love, I'm not gonna hurt the kid. I've got enough on my plate as it is with Connie."

"Then give us any weapons you have in your pockets." Garnet said sternly.

Nadeli just rolled her eyes, searched her pockets, and threw a pocket knife into Garnets hand. "Happy now crystal fems? Now don't worry, I'm a woman of my word. So I promise to take good care of Steve."

"Do you even know how to take care of kids?" Amethyst jokingly asked.

"Sure I do. Used to be a babysitter. Now let's get going steve, my knife is waiting."

Steven and Nadeli walked a short distance to find Nadeli's car. Steven took the passenger seat and Nadeli took the drivers seat. As she began to drive, one of her hands looked through one of the side compartments while still having her eyes on the road and said "you want to know something funny Steve?"

"What?"

"The gems wanted the weapons in my pockets, but they didn't think to look for any in my car." At that moment, Nadeli pulled out a small revolver from the compartment. Steven just stared at the gun, petrified with fear. Nadeli then calmly placed the gun on her lap, rolled down the window, grabbed the gun, threw it out the window and rolled it back up. To say Steven was confused would be a gross understatement. "Why would you..?" Steven said to himself, still dumbfounded.

"Like I said, I'm a woman of my word. Now let's just hope that Onion kid doesn't find my revolver, who knows the chaos that little psycho could cause with it." Nadeli then proceeded to turn on the radio and continued to drive.


	3. Where the title starts to make sense

After thirty minutes of driving, the two parked outside of a large mansion that was the home of Ryan White, great grandson of Johnson white.

"Now Steve" Nadeli said. "I want you to stay in the car while I talk to Ryan."

"Why would you bring me along if you wanted me to just stay here?" Steven asked.

"Who else is gonna talk to Connie while I find out where my knife is?" Nadeli then pulled out a cell phone and a piece of paper with a phone number on it from her pockets. Once again, Steven was at a lost for words.

"Why are you letting me talk to Connie?"

"You see, Connie's been riding the depression bus for awhile now. Became quite anti social actually. I thought you could Brighten up her day with that charismatic charm of yours." She handed him the paper and phone, walked out of the car and into the mansion. Steven quickly dialed the number and waited for Connie to pick up. Eventually the phone call was answered.

"What is it Nadeli?" Connie asked, her voice void of emotion.

"Connie it's me, Steven."

The phone was silent for a few seconds, till Connie said in disbelief "Steven? Is it really you?"

"Yes. Its me Connie!"

"Oh Steven! You don't know how amazing it is to here your voice after... Wait. How did you get this number?"

"Listen Connie, Nadeli, the gems and I made a deal. If we get Nadeli this special gem knife, she'll let you go with us."

"You're working with her?!"

"It's the only way to get you out!"

"Look Steven, Nadeli is a complete nut case! She gave me a black eye when I didn't pick up the phone, and she was just calling to ask if I wanted any Chinese food! I don't care what you haft to do, just get me out of this nightmare!"

"Don't worry Connie, I'm going to get you out of there."

"Promise me Steven! You haft to promise me!"

"I promise to rescue you Connie. I promise! Look, I think Nadeli is going to come back soon. I'm going to haft to hang up now. Just hold on a little longer and you'll be safe."

"I... I understand. Please, just get me out of here."

"I will, bye." Steven said as he hung up.

A few short minutes later, Nadeli was seen walking out of the mansion and back to the car.

"You didn't do anything... Illegal in there did you?" Steven asked.

"No mate, don't have any weapons." Nadeli then got in the car, took back the phone and drove off with Steven. There was silence for a few seconds, until Nadeli started to talk again.

"Did you get the knife? Very nice of you to ask Steve. No, I didn't get the knife. On the bright side, I've found out its location. Should be smooth sailing now."

"So where is it, on a mountain or something?"

"No mate, we aren't going up to find it. We're going down."

"Its underground?"

"I'll tell you where when we meet up with the gems at the docks Steve."

"It's Steven."

"Beg your Pardon?"

"My name is Steven." Steven said with slight anger in his voice, finally reaching his boiling point with Nadeli.

"Didn't know you disliked the nickname mate, sorry. I've got a few other ones I can use though. How does Quartz Junior sound?"

"It's just Steven."

"Alight, if that's what you want. I just prefer funny little nicknames is all."

They were silent the rest of the way to the docks. They got out of the car and walked over to where the gems were standing.

"We found a sheath." Garnet said as she held out a white sheath.

"Perfect, and I found out where the knife is." Nadeli said. "Now something tells me you gems don't pay much attention to human events."

"What does that haft to do with anything?" Amethyst asked.

"One, it involves my knife. Two, I enjoy this particular part of history. So Johnson White used to live in London. He decided that he wants to live in America, Shoretown to be precise. So he packs his things and brings his family along for the ride. Now it's important to note that Johnson had a huge ego and was completely full of himself. He always brought along some gem artifact he found to show to other rich men just to show off. For Christ sake, he even named his son after himself. You'd think one Johnson White would be enough."

"Get to the point!" Pearl said.

"Sorry, rambled off. So Johnson and his family got on this big ship, and I mean BIG ship. Now the people who made this ship were so confident that the ship was unsinkable that they said no force of nature, no powerful gem, not even god himself could sink it. Eventually one thing leads to another, another being an iceberg, and that ship starts to sink. Now these people who made the ship were so arrogant, that they didn't pack enough life boats on the ship, and fifteen hundred people lost their lives because of their hubris. Still, seven hundred people made it out OK, so it wasn't a complete lost. I guess the moral of the story is arrogance is the root of all stupidity."

"We know about the Titanic, just get to the point." Garnet said.

"Rambled off again didn't I? Anyway as we all know, women and children were first to the life boats. Now there's no room for Johnson, only his wife and kid. So Johnson says his teary goodbye to the people he loves and makes Johnson junior promise to take up his mantle as gem artifact collecter. Who by the by, caused an airship to burn up because of some amber gem he had requested to be shipped. Darn it I rambled off again! So the first Johnson went down with the ship. Now he actually brought along a gem artifact to show all the first class mates on board. And that artifact was, you guessed it, my bloody knife! So just go find that sunken beauty and get me my knife, alright? Come to my place when you're done." Nadeli then handed over a piece of paper with her address on it to Amethyst and started to walk back to her car.

"You aren't going to come with us?" Pearl asked.

"Sorry love, someone needs to feed Connie dinner. Plus I get seasick easy. I'd Probably puke up on that cube afro of yours."

"You're hysterical." Garnet said sarcastically.

"What can I say love, used to be a comedian. One last thing, I'm still slapping Connie for you saying no to me earlier." Nadeli got into her car and drove off, leaving the Steven and the gems to look for the knife.

**Authors note: it'll be awhile for the next chapter to be released. I'm kinda burned out and want to rest up.**


	4. Never slack off when you're a gem

It had been several hours till Steven and the gems were at where the Titanic sank. They had gotten there in their small blue boat. It took a bit of planning to figure out how they would search through the Ship when it was at the bottom of the ocean. The group eventually decided that Garnet would go down under and look for the knife with the sheath while the others would stay top side. Now Steven, Amethyst and Pearl were patiently waiting for Garnet to return with the knife.

Curious about what the old ship now looked like underwater, Steven was looking threw photos of the Titanic on his phone. The ship was now covered from head to toe in rust, undersea plant life, and other various things. The pictures were somewhat haunting to Steven. He had actually learned about the Titanic disaster from Connie, and received a very vivid nightmare later that night from her description of it. Just thinking about that nightmare sent shivers down his spine. But then again, that might have been the rather cold weather.

It had taken him awhile to realize that Pearl had not said a single word since they sailed to their current position. Amethyst had complained several times about how cold it was and how long Garnet was taking. Steven expected Pearl to tell her to be patient or something along those lines. Pearl had not. Steven looked up from his phone to see Pearl just staring at the water.

"Hey Amethyst." Steven whispered.

"What's up bud?" Amethyst whispered back.

"Why's Pearl being so quite?"

Amethyst looked over to Pearl, who was still staring at the water. She frowned and said "its nothing bud. We've just kinda got some bad history that involves the Titanic."

"Oh, I get it. She feels sad because it sank."

Pearl raised her head and turned towards Steven and Amethyst. "Feel sad about the Titanic sinking?" Pearl said, the slightest bit of offense in her voice. "While I admit that it is truly awful that over fifteen hundred people died, the loss of the ship itself was anything but a tragedy. That ship was the pinnacle of human hubris and arrogance. If anything, I'm glad to know that over sized rust bucket is now the home of countless starfish and barnacles."

"Then what's the bad history?" Steven asked.

Pearl turned back to the water quickly, almost like she was afraid to answer. "You tell him Amethyst." She said, her voice now shaky.

"You see Steven." Amethyst started. "On the day the Titanic sank, Rose went on a solo mission in Ireland. Before she left, she told us to keep an eye on the ship in case something bad would happen."

"She knew it would sink?" Steven asked, somewhat confused.

"Oh no no no! You see a few days before the big ship hit the iceberg, Rose tried to tame some gem monster that looked like a squid. The squid thing went wild and swam out into the ocean. She was just worried the squid might cause some damage to it. Garnet and I thought Rose was just being paranoid, and Pearl straight up didn't want to go defend it. So we just sort of stayed at the temple. We heard the bad news through some guys who worked at the lighthouse, who got a distress call from the ship. We felt bad and had a moment of silence for the guys that drowned, but we didn't make a big deal out of it. Then a few days later, we had to break the news to Rose when she came back from her mission."

"Oh... I get it." Steven said as he lightly nodded. "I guess seeing mom sad would get me bumded out."

Amethyst looked uncomfortable as she rubbed the back of her head and said "Well... She wasn't actually sad when we told her the ship we were supposed to defend sank because we decided to ignore it."

"Was my mom... Mad at you guys?"

"Heh, that's putting it lightly. Rose was straight up furious at us. And when you make Rose Quartz angry, you know you've done something bad. Pearl tried to calm her down and actually told Rose that the Titanic wasn't worth saving and that she was happy it sank. My ears are still ringing from how loud Rose screamed at Pearl."

"What did my mom say to her?"

"Let's put it this way. Rose getting angry was a rare thing, but getting Rose to swear was flat out impossible. Pearl managed to do the impossible and beyond."

"Oh man..." Was all Steven could say.

"Yeah, dark day for the the crystal gems. Pearl broke down in tears after Rose was done. Rose eventually forgave us and apologized for yelling at us, but we did feel like the Titanic sinking was our fault after what she said."

"Well, at least my mom doesn't hold a grudge. What's she like when she's angry?"

Amethyst chuckled and said "Not exactly a pretty sight. You know, ancient humans actually made up stories about what would happen if Rose got mad. The ground would shake, mountains would crumble, the moon would fall from the sky, dumb apocalyptic stuff like that. Hey Pearl, remember that time those greek guys thought we were goddesses and-"

Just at that moment, Garnet suddenly emerged from the ocean water, surprising everyone. She climbed in the boat and sat down with her legs crossed. "Found the knife." She said as she held out the sheath now containing the blade. "Would you like to see it?" No one responded, but she pulled out the knife anyway.

The Karambit knife was quite something to look at. The hilt itself was beautifully designed, white with snowflakes carved into it. But what really drew attention to it was the blade. It was light blue and looked icy. The blade even gave off steam.

"I still can't believe we haft to give this cool thing, ice pun not intended, to that lunatic." Amethyst complained.

"Well we haft to or else she'll hurt or even kill Connie." Pearl said

"True." Garnet said. "But after she gives back Connie, what's stopping us from taking it back?"

They all looked at Garnet with shock and awe. "What if Nadeli tries to fight back?" Steven asked.

"No one's crazy enough to try and fight the crystal gems. Besides, what makes you think we can't take her?" Garnet said with a small smile of confidence.


	5. Uniquely intelligent

After Steven and the gems got the knife, they went straight to Nadeli's home. It was late at night and the only light sources were the street lights. Eventually they found the house that had the address Nadeli gave them. They walked up to the door and knocked.

"It's open!" Nadeli said from inside.

They opened the door and walked in. The house was actually very clean, though this was most likely just to keep up appearance. They found Nadeli sitting at the kitchen table, reading a book. When she saw Steven and the gems, she closed the book and clapped.

"Took you long enough!" She said.

"I hate to admit it, but you have nice house." Pearl said.

"Thanks, used to be a janitor. Did you find my knife?"

Garnet held out the knife in the sheath in response.

"Splendid, just splendid! I knew you'd find it! Go on, give it over!"

"Connie first." Steven said in a serious tone.

"Alright." She pulled out a key from her pocket and tossed it on the table. "First door down the hall."

Garnet grabbed the key and placed the knife on the table. Then Nadeli picked up the knife and started to look over the details on the sheath. As the the four went threw the hall, unlocked the door, and went down the stairs, they heard Nadeli talking.

"Let me tell you, when you gems make weapons, you make them with bloody style! Could you imagine getting stabbed by this? It'd be like Shakespeare stabbing you with his quill!"

When Steven and the gems reached the small basement, they were rather surprised to find that it looked like a fairly decent room. There was a television and bookshelf to the right, and a bed to the left. The latter had Connie lying on top of it, her back towards the rest of the room.

"Connie, its us." Steven said.

Connies body sprang up and quickly turned towards the four. Her clothes were somewhat dirty, though she herself looked rather clean. Her arms had bandages and bruises on them. The most prominent and fresh bruise was on her left cheek. At the sight of this, Garnet stared uncomfortably, feeling slightly guilty about her bruised cheek.

For a few seconds Connie was completely still, until she jumped out of the bed and hugged Steven tighter than he thought was possible.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" Connie said, trying to hold back tears.

"It's alright, you're safe now. You're kinda starting to hurt me now." Steven said, squirming to escape Connies grasp.

After Connie was done, and informed about the gems taking back the knife, they made their way back to the kitchen to see that Nadeli hadn't gotten up from her chair and was still looking over the sheath.

"You've got some genuinely caring friends Connie." Nadeli said, eyes not leaving the white sheath. "These four magic lads practically broke open an old safe at the bottom of the freezing ocean for you. You'd better show your appreciation for them working so hard."

"I will." Connie mumbled, not looking inNadeli's detection.

"Alrighty then, you five get bloody going. You've got two worried parents that are waiting after all."

"Yeah, about that. We really want that knife." Amethyst said.

"How much are you gonna pay for it?"

"We'll be taking it for free." Pearl said, joyful now that they didn't need to take orders from this savage woman anymore.

A look of pure confusion swept across Nadeli's face as she got up from her chair with the knife held in her left hand. "Are you guys yanking my chain or something?" She asked.

"No we are not." Garnet said. "You no longer have Connie to threaten us with, so I would suggest you give us the knife. Unless you want to get into trouble with the crystal gems."

Nadeli looked at the gems, then the knife in her hand, then at the two children who were giving mocking smiles to her. Then Nadeli's confused face turned into one not of rage or anger, but one of annoyance. She then began to talk.

"Just give up Nadeli, you're outnumbered. You make a strong point Steven, a very strong point. But the thing is..." She then pulled the knife out of the sheath and pointed the light blue blade towards the gems. "You five are out gunned."

All five of them were shocked beyond recognition. Was Nadeli actually crazy enough to threaten three immortal women who had countless ways to severely injure her?

"I'm the first to actually threaten you aren't I? Now like I told Steven, I think honesty is the best policy. So here's the truth. Criminals like me don't care who you are or where you came from. We just care about profits. But unlike the crooks who skin people alive for fun, I actually have a brain. Look, you guys know just as much as I do that fighting me isn't worth a stupid ice knife that you'll just put away in the temple for it to collect dust. You guys got Connie, and I got my knife. This right here is a happy ending whether you like it or not. So just let me keep and sell this thing so no one here gets gutted like a fish. I'm I right?"

There was a long pause with a heavy silence. After much thought, Garnet sighed and said "I'm probably going to hate myself for saying this, but you're right. Just don't sell it to anyone dangerous."

Nadeli smiled, put the knife back in the sheath, and sat back down as she said "Don't worry love, gem artifact collecters is where the moneys at. Why do you think I had my eyes on this thing?"

"Let's go." Garnet said bitterly. As they all walked away, irritated with what just happened, they heard Nadeli talking.

"Good luck with being a crystal gem Steven!" She said with joy.

"I will." Steven said annoyed. "Good luck with your raging insanity."

"I like to think of it as... Being uniquely intelligent."

**Aurthers note: most of this story was made because AceNos on deviantart suggested that I should do a story that involved the Titanic, so thank him for this and check out his awsome drawings.**


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